Frankster

Step 6: Adjusting the balance

2011-01-01T19:35:00.003-06:00

These photos show the camera and stabilizer balanced on my kitchen counter, and how many washers I used for the counterweights during my first video test.
The forward weights can be used to fine-tune the left-right balance of the stabilizer, since the center holes of the washers are much bigger than the #8 bolt and I can position the washers a little bit off-center. Here I've used a single 1-1/2" washer sandwiched between two 1-1/4" washers.
For the lower weights, I used J-B Weld to attach a 1/4" nut to the end of the aluminum tube. This allows me to attach the weights to a threaded rod which I can adjust fore and aft. Here I've got five 1-1/4" washers and a single 1" washer.
The current setup tends to pitch and roll a little, which I understand means it's a little bottom-heavy. So I'll be fiddling with the counterweights some more.

a few other DIY stabilizers on youtube

2011-01-01T18:32:00.008-06:00

These DIY stabilizers have some beautifully machined parts.
1. from Japan, I think
2. patterned after the Steadicam Merlin

And...

this one's made out of easy-to-find parts — wood, aluminum bars, threaded rods, etc.
it's interesting to watch this guy using his workshop tools, including bending an aluminum bar — "He can actually find things in this shop"!
and this is very similar to my original design, but seems to have some pitch and roll (tilt/cant) problems.

Step 5: Slow but steady progress over the holidays

2010-12-31T19:15:00.005-06:00

I decided that my handle was too big and bulky, so I built a new one. It consists of two PVC threadless couplers connected to each other by a short length of 1/2" PVC pipe. To give it a good grip, I stretched a narrow-tire bicycle inner tube around it. I attached the panning ring (a fender washer) to the vertical shaft with J-B Weld.

I shortened the camera platform (the top plate) by more than two inches, and I finished making the bend in the arc and attached some counterweights to it. Then I set about trying to balance the whole thing. For the time being, I've simply attached the camera to the platform using duct tape.

I've tested it a little bit and am reasonably pleased with how it works, but it still needs some tweaking. Here are some sample videos. Note that I do some running in both videos.

without using the stabilizer (hand-held, about as steady as I can get it)
using my DIY stabilizer

Step 4: bending the new arc

2010-12-19T17:01:00.005-06:00

I did return to Discount Steel (third trip in a week), and bought a five-foot, 1/8" aluminum pipe. The outside diameter is very close to 3/8".

Now I'm carefully bending this pipe to match my pattern (Stabiliser #2 at diycamera). I'm making a series of very small bends in the pipe, using a bench vise. My workbench is in the garage where it's 12 degrees F, so I'm repeatedly running outside, clamping, bending, unclamping, and running back inside to plan my next bend. Slow progress...

Step 3: resizing

2010-12-14T20:08:00.011-06:00

After working with these materials for a bit, it's becoming obvious that I'm making this thing way too big.

Half-inch conduit (the arc) is actually closer to 3/4" outside diameter, and my pipe bender doesn't make bends any sharper than what you see in the photo.

Additionally, after starting to work with the flat bar of aluminum, I realized it's much bigger than I need. I had intended to get a piece 3/16" thick, but finally realized I had brought home a 1/4" bar. And what I really need is probably just 1/8". So I went back to Discount Steel yesterday and found a thinner and narrower bar (1/8" x 2" wide instead of 1/4" x 3") for two and a half bucks.

I think I'll go back tomorrow and look for a 3/8" (outside diameter) aluminum tube or pipe to replace the conduit. That'll be much closer to the design of this stabilizer.

Camera stabilizer, ready for step 3

2010-12-10T20:18:00.002-06:00

Ahh, the benefits of living in the big city. I was able to make a quick trip over my lunch hour to Discount Steel, where I found a flat bar of aluminum (3" wide) that I'll use for the camera platform. It was in the "drop" section (scrap metals) of the "aluminum barn", so I got a four-foot piece for just 5 bucks.

Ooh I see Steadicam now makes a "Smoothee" model, for small cameras like the iPhone. It's under $200, which is much more reasonable than the price of the Steadicam Merlin. Time to abandon my DIY project?

And there's also the Manfrotto Modo 585 for under a hundred bucks. It's gotten very mixed reviews on Amazon and at B&H. Hmmm.

DIY stabilizer, step 2

2010-12-09T21:05:00.006-06:00

Step 2: Add panning ring and universal joint to the handle.

As described by wsclater, I fixed a ring to the vertical shaft of the gimbal between the bearing and the universal joint. This allows the system to be panned without upsetting the level of the camera. The panning ring is just a big ol' 1.5" fender washer.

My u-joint (Traxxas model 1951) arrived in the mail today, so I set about putting it together. This turned out to be more difficult than I expected, and I had to build a special tool for the job (google search to the rescue!). Attaching the u-joint to the handle turned out to be pretty easy - just screw it on to the 8x35mm bolt which forms the vertical shaft of the gimbal.

I'm rethinking the arc portion of my steadicam... I'm now planning to use a round tube instead of a flat bar. I returned the steel bar to Lowe's and bought a 10-foot section of 1/2" metal conduit (cheap at about $1.75!). It's galvanized steel and seems stiff and strong enough, and is easy to manipulate with my friend Eric's pipe bender. I've already started shaping it but haven't yet achieved the desired contour.

Notes and resources:

DIY Steadicam by Videopia on vimeo
pan, tilt and cant (camera terminology) are analogous to yaw, pitch and roll (airplane piloting terminology)
The Homebuilt Stabilizer Group discussion board

DIY stabilizer - thoughts before step 2

2010-12-07T20:54:00.006-06:00

I've decided to try making the arc out of a flat steel bar, 1" wide and almost 1/8" thick (12GA). And that's mainly because that was the best-looking piece of metal I found at the hardware store.

I really don't have a very good idea how big the arc should be or exactly what shape, or even whether I should be using aluminum instead. I'm also wondering if my handle is too long; I might have to cut off an inch or so. That wouldn't be difficult, since it would just involve cutting aluminum with a hacksaw.

I'm also trying to decide whether I should attach the camera via a tripod mount (1/4-20 bolt), as originally envisioned, or just use one of the GoPro's adhesive mounts.

DIY stabilizer, step 1

2010-12-06T21:56:00.009-06:00

I'm basically following this gentleman's design (he's got several videos on youtube under his user name, "wsclater"), plus various other tips I'm picking up here and there.

There's no way I could do this without youtube.

Step 1: The handle.

I drove down to the local indoor skateboard park and purchased a box of eight skateboard bearings ($10). I spent some time wandering around in Lowe's and Home Depot, and bought a 1/2" pvc threadless coupler, and a $5 metal flashlight, from which I removed the lens, bulb/LED, and reflector. I heated the pvc coupler in the oven for 15 minutes or so at ~200 degrees F and then was able to press one of the skateboard bearings inside it. Then I jammed the coupler/bearing combo into the flashlight head. The inner ring of the bearing spins smoothly and freely, which will allow the camera to pan left and right (or conversely, allow the handle to be twisted left and right while the camera points straight ahead.)

So far, so good...

I've ordered the u-joint (for all other directions of motion).

DIY steadicam design

2010-12-05T13:00:00.003-06:00

I sketched this out. I ain't no artist, but I did take two years of "Mechanical Drawing" in high school.

It looks very similar to a camera stabilizer that's available in the UK, but I plan to make the gimbal (in the handle) with a universal joint ($5 on ebay) and skateboard bearings, instead of a ball and socket.

I'm thinking I'll need to buy the GoPro tripod mount, to connect this steadicam to my GoPro camera housing.

The arc will be a flat bar of aluminum or steel, or maybe a chain-link fence tension bar - 1/8" thick, 1/2" wide, galvanized steel.

Shaky cyclocross video

2010-12-02T18:55:00.004-06:00

After I shot a cyclocross video with my helmetcam-on-a-stick, and was frustrated with how shaky some of it turned out, I started thinking more and more about camera stabilizers. First I looked up the cream-of-the-crop, brand-name Steadicam Merlin. $800! Seems a little much to me, for use with a $230, 6-ounce camera. So then I started googling, reading wiki, and watching youtube videos about do-it-yourself camera stabilizers.

I got a kick out of GoPro's version of a steadicam.

I saw a wide variety of stabilizers, made of everything from PVC pipe to wood to iron pipe. Some really clever ideas, and some really crappy ones. This guy seems to know what he's doing, and it's pleasant to listen to his Scottish accent. Looks like it's doable, even for somebody as inept as me. I've decided to resurrect my blog just to document this project.

The Spinning Season

2008-12-09T22:04:00.005-06:00

I've succumbed to the Minnesota weather. Time to start hitting the winter trainer.

Today I did my first indoor spin of the season, over at Now Bikes. Pretty nice setup: I can store my bike there for the winter, and drop by during lunch hour to do a one-hour spin with Lance's coach or Coach Troy, or watch Le Tour or Paris Roubaix or whatnot on their big-screen TV. We'll typically have three to six people, but today it was just Eric and I; Don should join us tomorrow.

Before we started doing this indoor stuff three years ago, we used to ride thru the winter. Our limit was 15 or 20 degrees, with balaclavas, lobster mitts, windproof bibs, neoprene shoecovers, the works. Not any more; I've had enough of it. Now my limit is about 30 or 35 degrees.

Bike goodies #4 - somebody stop me!

2008-11-25T23:06:00.017-06:00

I've been sorta obsessed with sunglasses lately. Not the really good kind, like Oakleys; I can't afford them. The closest I ever came to Oakleys was the $8 counterfeits that I purchased near Times Square once, which lasted for maybe a dozen rides before the temples snapped in two.

Last week I saw where the Toyota-United team is selling off all their inventory, and I submitted a pretty low-ball bid on a helmet and some quality sunglasses — like the Specialized Miura and Tifosi Gavia and Slip — but my bid was rejected.

Then I ran across the PBK Motion sunglasses on ProBikeKit.com. Five interchangeable lenses, 100% UV protection, $17. Tax-free, and shipping to the US is still free. I've had good luck with PBK in the past, so I'm gonna give these a shot. Oh – also ordered an Elite Ciussi bottle cage while I was there.

Tonight I went to Excel Cycle in Excelsior for their winter clothing sale. Got an awesome Castelli wool cap and a pair of Craft windproof gloves for half price. Score! Now I really gotta stop spending money for a while…

Is that a glove in your shorts?

2008-11-23T17:01:00.012-06:00

… or … are you happy to be biking?
I guess it's a little of both. I hadn't ridden in almost three weeks, so I had kinda forgotten how to dress for the weather.

It was 37 degrees when I headed out the door. I wore three layers on top — polypro, an insulated long-sleeve jersey, and a vest; two layers down below — cycling shorts and heavy tights; smartwool socks with thin shoecovers; lobster mitts and a balaclava. My hands actually ended up a little too warm, as I sweated thru the mitts. And everything else was fine except for my privates. Luckily I had brought an extra pair of gloves, so I stuffed one of them down my shorts. Priceless.

Note to self — windproof front panel!

State Championships CX

2008-11-16T00:42:00.029-06:00

Last cyclocross race of the season in Minnesota.

Bought new Swix gloves earlier this week. (A brand recommended by BruceA.) Found them on clearance at Gear West. Trying to go cheap, and might have gone too cheap; they may not keep out the wind like I need. Anyway, I could only find one of them when heading out the door this morning! So I brought my polypro liners to wear with my cycling gloves instead.

Walked all the way around the course, looking for the best photo spots. The course was way long! Maybe I should've just run back and forth all day between the stair climb and the sand pit / barriers. Nah, then I would've missed the photos along the lake. On top of that, I wouldn't have run into All the Way Ray. I stopped and chatted a while with him just before Race 3. He's still enjoying his cortisone shot.

Mmmm, that dark beer at the BMC tent was sure good. I met meow while I was enjoying my frosty beverage, but I didn't get a cookie from her. :-( I hope there's a next time....

I hate to sound like a whiner, but my back was killing me today. A simple little sneeze yesterday morning really aggravated my pulled muscle (geez I sound fragile). Made it hard to concentrate on photos.

Still, I'm pleased with some of the photos I got on hooligan hill, with the whiskey and beer hand-ups and the dollar primes. (The new superwide lens was handy for getting crowd shots up there.) On the other hand I wish I had spent more time at the sand pit.

Rawbee is talking about doing an online gallery of "best of the 2008 season" from various photographers. I think we'd want to get photos from T.C.Worley, Andy Frye, Bruce A, etc. We'd probably also solicit photos at the mcf.net/mboard. Lots of people are always out there taking photos; surely they've captured a few gems they'd be willing to share.

Who knows, maybe we can get One on One Bike Studio to hang them. That would be cool! Starting to look into that...

Lake Rebecca CX

2008-11-09T23:44:00.005-06:00

Temps in the low 30s like yesterday, but with much lighter wind. Started overcast, but then the sun started to come out after a while. Kept getting alternating clouds and sun, giving me trouble with the changing light conditions. Exposure is trickier with the super-wide lens since it captures a lot of the sky (and my camera ain't so smart).

This sure was a spectator-unfriendly course, due to all the contruction in the park. I figure I walked about a mile from parking/registration to the start/finish, and about four miles total.

Tried a different pair of gloves — a pair that I thought were windproof. But my fingertips still got painfully cold — had to stop several times to remove the gloves and warm my hands up inside my jacket. Need to ask Bruce at skinnyski for some advice.

Misc. observations:

Not too happy with my pictures in the woods. I kept trying to get a good one — should've just moved on and spent more time at the barriers or something.
Worried that I might have encroached on PatL during the race; he was cutting some of the corners really tight. Nobody has ever yelled at me though...
Hollywood shouted "last lap, Frank!" to me as he went flying by at the end of the race. Thanks, Hollywood!

Missed:

Curved section of paved road in the park that had an orange plastic barrier on both sides. Might've looked interesting in a photo.
Spectators — few, but clustered around the finish line with the race officials. Hmmm, I should get pictures of the officials and volunteers too. They're an important part of the race atmosphere.

Velodrome CX

2008-11-08T20:42:00.004-06:00

Wanted to catch all five races (counting the kids' race) at the Velodrome today, but — owww — my back was hurting when I woke up this morning. Must be a pulled muscle from my Tuesday crash. Took four ibuprofen and eventually felt well enough to drive up for the final two races.

A cold and blustery November day. I warmed up between races — or at least got out of the wind — in the trailer that holds all the track bikes. None of these pictures convey how cold my fingers got! Need to start using gloves with some sort of wind-stopper fabric.

T.C.Worley sought me out today. He said he'd been asking everyone with a camera, "Are you Frank?". Glad I finally got to meet him; he does some great photography.

My new super-wide lens had arrived on Wednesday, so I was itching to try it today. After a few minutes I decided to do the entire race with only that lens. Wanted to force myself into thinking super-wide. Plus I liked the way the track looked when distorted a little by the lens — those crazy swooping curves. I had thought that with such a tremendous depth of field, I wouldn't have any trouble focusing this lens, but with the sky so overcast, and with my aperture wide open at f/4.0 much of the time, and with my trembling frozen fingers, I sometimes had trouble. Had to throw away several series of photos.

Overall, though, I believe I'm going to enjoy this new tool. I'll use it tomorrow at Lake Rebecca, as well.

Backfilling my Blog

2008-11-07T10:20:00.004-06:00

I went several months without making any updates to my blog, but now I feel motivated to go back and fill in some stuff. Here's some posts that I've either been adding lately or which I'll be publishing soon:

Nature Valley Grand Prix 2008 (photography, Jun 11–15)
other cycling stuff
- BSBC ride w/photos (Oct 14)
- Bike goodies part 2 - new saddle )(Jul 25)
- Bike goodies - New shoes! (Jul 22)
other photography stuff
- Wayako - photos in the yearbook
- New Lens & Orchestra Concert (Mar 11)
Summit Dance Shoppe photos
- SDS Dancelines Recitals (Jun 8)
- Starquest (May 10)
- Hall of Fame (Apr 27)
- Showbiz (Apr 20)
- SDS Ballet Recital (Feb 23)
Trojets photos
- Trojets Slideshow (Feb 20)
- Section Tourney (Feb 2)

Election Day Carnage

2008-11-05T07:54:00.007-06:00

Seven or eight riders in yesterday's 23-mile lunchtime ride. Pretty fast, hard enough to make me drop to the back, barely hanging on.

Approaching Hwy 96 on Hodgson, somewhere between 20 and 25 mph I think, the traffic light at DQ suddenly turned yellow. Rawbee decided to hit the brakes instead of blowing thru. Sudden ripple effect, each rider almost locking 'em up, swerving to the right. My front wheel overlapped Don's a little. Not sure I could've stayed upright if nothing worse than that had happened. But his cassette sliced my sidewall and my tire exploded — and I mean loud — and before I could make any conscious reaction, I landed hard on my left side. Felt the back of my helmet slam against the pavement. Initially felt pain more than anywhere else in the middle finger of my left hand. Weird.

Was lying on the street, bike on top of me, afraid to move, afraid to open my eyes, shallow quick breaths, starting to feel pain on my left side above my hip. Somebody (Nelson?) pulled my bike off the top of me.

Slowly started to take stock of the situation and realized I was still in one piece and able to move everything. Answered people's questions coherently. Still afraid to try to stand. Learned that no one else had crashed. Surprisingly there was a police car just a couple blocks behind us and they called for an ambulance. Sat up in the street (right lane) and decided to just wait there, watching the cars slowly going by.

wtf? three police cars, two fire trucks, and finally the ambulance. Fellow cyclists still hanging around, watching and waiting, checking out my bike. (Go on, guys, you don't need to keep waiting for me.) Rawbee went on, to get his truck, expecting to help transport my bike and maybe me too.

Climbed in the back of the ambulance, got checked out a little more thoroughly, got cleaned off and gauzed up. Signed the form refusing a trip to the hospital. Scored some extra gauze pads, a little tape, and a little bottle of surgical scrub (which I've been advised to throw out and not use on an open wound). Rawbee drove me back to work.

Outcome: relatively little damage, coulda been much much worse. Broken helmet, sliced tire, blown tube, scraped handlebar tape, torn jersey. Two gauze-covered abrasions/contusions, above and below left hip. Minor stiffness in upper back. No cuts, nothing broken. Ten ibuprofen and a reasonable night's sleep. Just several days of soreness ahead. Keep wondering if I could've done anything differently. Too fatigued to be riding that close? Fingers not on the brake levers? Dunno...

Rum River CX 2008

2008-11-02T22:36:00.005-06:00

It's nice to get recognized and appreciated out there. Pattycakes said hi to me during his warmup ride around the course. We've never met each other before. (I did meet his dad, though, at Corcoran.)

Decided to spend more time this year on the back side of the course — on the long straight dirt-road section. I liked the way the pack would throw up a cloud of dust as they came thru. Planned to spend a lap or two at the rocky downhill in the woods, but got there too late. Only caught the last half dozen riders in the A race.

Shoulda:

taken more photos on the bridge. maybe I'll do that more next year, when I have my Super Wide Angle lens.
view from the cemetery
what else am I missing? hand-ups? pit area? spectators?

Serotta test ride

2008-10-31T20:02:00.014-05:00

I test rode a new bike today. 2007 Serotta Fierté Ti. Or is it a 2008? Titanium frame with carbon fiber fork, seatstays and seatpost. Shimano Ultegra components. (Fierté is French for pride; I had to look it up :-)

Nice ride. Good price.

This bike is a full 2.9 pounds lighter than my current bike! (And I weighed both bikes myself; I didn't rely on marketing materials or web searches.) My Bianchi Veloce is a steel bike that I've had for nine years and over 30,000 miles. Holy cow, nine years. It's definitely time for a new one.

Bike goodies episode 3 - sunglasses!

2008-10-30T19:55:00.014-05:00

Found these on chainlove.com — Tifosi Optics Czar Sunglasses, Metallic Silver/HC. $12.50! (19.34 w/shipping). msrp $37.

My old specs are Smith Moab H/P with interchangeable lenses. I've had them for years and still like the style. But my original platinum (mirrored) lens is badly scratched, and my replacement lens is scratched too. The clear lens got chewed up by my dog. And the rubber nose piece is starting to fall apart. Haven't been able to find any replacement parts lately…

Superwide Zoom

2008-10-30T19:40:00.014-05:00

For years I've been wanting a superwide lens to use with my digital SLR. Before going digital I'd had a lot of fun with my manual 20mm prime, but on my digital camera it worked like a 30mm lens.

I've been watching this lens (Sigma 10-20mm) for a while. I especially wanted to buy it after renting that Canon 10-22mm lens last weekend for the Green Acres race.

The Sigma has long been $569. Recently I had seen a used one (a demo model) for $499 and nearly bought it. But it only had a 90-day warranty instead of four years, so I hesitated. And then somebody bought it out from under me just a few days ago.

Looked at my online wishlist tonight and saw that the lens had dropped in price by $90. Woo hoo! So I ordered it right away from B&H Photo (NYC). (I generally split my business pretty evenly between B&H and Adorama.) w/S&H $489.10. Cheaper than that demo lens I nearly got stuck with!

Green Acres CX

2008-10-27T10:05:00.016-05:00

Couldn't go to the Sat. race at Afton Alps. But raw bee did. He's created a couple of cool special-effect photos from that race: a "tilt-shift" image that makes the race look like a miniature model, and a "bicycle planet".

Saturday's weather was gorgeous. Sunday, though, was classic cyclocross weather. Now I don't mind 40mph wind gusts, and I can handle temps in the mid-30s, and I don't even mind a little rain/snow mix. But all three at the same time? That was pretty challenging for someone who's just standing around taking pictures. I was dressed properly to keep my core temperature up, and had wool socks to keep my wet feet warm, but my fingers really got cold, making it hard to operate my camera sometimes. Thank goodness the chalet was open and I could warm up in there — and dry off my equipment — between races.

Whenever I was facing upwind, rain and snow-melt would accumulate on the front of my lens, slowly making the resulting photos look foggier and foggier, and lowering the contrast. Had to delete a bunch of these photos — it took me a while to realize what was going on. A lens hood for my 80-200 would've helped. Should have taken plastic bags or some other protection for my gear.

Camster had borrowed a Digital Rebel from the WHS yearbook staff for me, so I was able to rent a Canon 10-22mm lens this weekend from West Photo ($20). I've been wanting to play around with a superwide lens, especially at a cyclocross race, so this was my chance. People may have wondered what that crazy dude was doing, taking pictures just inches away from them. Got some intriguing results; now I definitely want one of these lenses for my very own, for my Pentax camera.

Was glad to see that AlanS added a little color to his kit this weekend, so he made the slideshow! I had been kidding him about wearing all black.

Got home and plugged the Canon's CF card into my PC's built-in card reader. Failure — every card reader stopped working. Tried logout/login, no good. Tried rebooting, same result. Finally looked carefully at the card reader — bent pin! Panic starting to set in. Tried to straighten the pin with tweezers, then with a paper clip. Removed the card reader from the chassis to get better access, still couldn't get to that bent pin. In desperation, took it to a neighbor to see if he had special tools to get to that pin.

Meanwhile I remembered that another neighbor had a Nikon DSLR, so I ran down to their house to see if I could borrow their PC for downloading the pics and burning a DVD or CD. Couldn't get their burner to work! But they offered to drive over to their parents' house to get a USB card reader that I could use. Saved the day!

Big Ring Flyers CX

2008-10-20T11:02:00.008-05:00

Hudson, WI — I was disappointed the wooded section of this course was eliminated; it was a challenge to avoid (for the most part) getting buildings, cars, power lines, etc. in the photos.

There was a small section on the course where many of the riders churned sand into the air. Spent some time trying to get some interesting shots of that.

Wished I had a ladder and a superwide lens; a birds-eye view of the crazy chicanes on this course would've been cool.

Dang it! I keep chopping off people's feet, especially at the barriers...

I'm very jealous of this shot by T.C.Worley. (I think he scaled a chain link fence to get it.) I've admired his work for a while, both on his blog and in the New York Times. I'd like to meet him some time. I'll look for him at the next few races.

Another long night; couldn't get access to the home computer till close to midnight. Ended up posting my slideshow link to the mcf.net msgboard at 2:40am. If you think I chose some poor shots for the slideshow, just blame it on fatigue!

Ham Lake CX 2008

2008-10-19T08:53:00.012-05:00

Yuck, had bright sun with harsh, distracting shadows today. I much prefer an overcast sky.
Felt like I couldn't be as creative today. The course is pretty flat and fast, the venue isn't as picturesque as other recent CX races.
Bruce at skinnyski did a much better job than I did, getting multiple riders in a single shot (like going around curves).
My friend Robbie was at the race with his six-foot, bright orange, fiberglass ladder. It was funny to see him carrying that thing through the woods. But he got some good angles that way; looks like he was 20 feet up a tree! I need to try that some day.
Tried a little panning at 1/180 sec to get just a small amount of background blur on a fast curve, and blur in the wheels and pedals. Those turned out well.
Pay it forward: found a thermal vest by the side of the road after the races, and turned it in. JHelmbrecht really appreciated that!

BSBC ride

2008-10-14T21:55:00.000-05:00

Had a great lunchtime ride today. For various reasons (work, photography, etc.) I hadn't ridden in a full week, so I was well rested. Temps started at 48 degrees, with brilliant sunshine. Eight guys showed up and Robbie brought his Canon G9 camera.

This is one pic from the ride. Robbie's blog has more, including a video of our Snail Lake Hill climb, where I'm at the back of the group. Not off the back, but at the back.

Wirth Classic Cup CX

2008-10-13T23:22:00.024-05:00

I tried and failed last weekend to get a good, tight shot of wheels splashing thru mud, so I tried again this weekend to get the same kind of shot in the soft dirt. I got one that I'm really happy with — the first pic in my slideshow. I have no idea who it is in the photo, but the skull socks make it just that much cooler.

In general I tried to be a little more creative this week. Instead of just getting "sports action" pictures of individual cyclists, I was going for more "art" and composition. I was trying to capture the ambiance of the event. The autumn colors helped, and so did the overcast sky — it's like an enormous softbox.

Walked/jogged around the entire course at least two full times, looking for the most interesting vantage points. Found a spot in the woods, just before the barrier with all the hecklers, where there was loose dirt in a right-hand turn. Good location for skids, flying dirt, and a few harmless crashes. At another location, I got this photo that I especially like. It just seems so weird for a line of cyclists to be parading thru the woods to make a u-turn.

Stuff I missed:

bike-pushing after a barrier (Bruce at skinnyski got some good photos of this)
the whole party atmosphere around the hecklers

Misc:

my daughter's busy working on a senior paper, and my wife's finishing her master's thesis. so when I got home I mowed the yard and then took a nap; I didn't get access to our home computer until midnight, and didn't finish my slideshow till 3:30 am. yawn...
Something I've learned (I remember learning this last year, but I forgot it and had to relearn it): stick with 1/500 sec or 1/750 to stop action; don't expect 1/350 to do the job, especially if riders are streaking right-to-left or left-to-right across the frame.
1/45 sec seems just about ideal for panning to get background blur.
wide-angle photography: that's one of the fun things about this sport; you can get pretty dang close to the action. I really really want a superwide lens though; 18mm (27mm in the old film world) just doesn't always cut it.
Worried that many of my photos are too "warm" or yellowish. Wish the camera had a color temperature dial for adjusting the white balance.
I keep thinking about sticking my camera on a monopod, poking it out there snug up against a barrier, and tripping the shutter remotely. I wonder if that's feasible.
Finally, I've started resizing the files (for upload to flickr) using a PaintShopPro script instead of Jasc Image Robot. That preserves the EXIF info for each photo.

Hudson Riverfront CX

2008-10-05T21:15:00.024-05:00

What a difference a day makes! I'm glad I rode yesterday (warm, dry, and sunny) and not today (colder, wet, and muddy). My poor bike-handling skills would have killed me on a technical course like this one. But the change in weather led to more interesting photos.

Saw three co-workers (and fellow lunchtime riders) at today's races: AlanS in the C's, ErikM in the B's on his singlespeed, and GuyA in the A's. Erik and Guy both made the highlight reel, i.e. my slideshow.

Ran into Frye during the A race and admired his new camera. He had given me a shout-out during his race, so I tried to return the favor with a quality photo or two. I also sorta met JimmerC out on the course while he was warming up, so I tried to get a few decent pics of him. I called out Good Luck to StevenCX but I don't think he knows who the heck I am. And All the Way Ray gave me a warning shout as he was threatening to barrel into me on a slippery off-camber corner. I'm pretty happy with this photo I got of him (left).

Thoughts about my photos:

Was very worried it would be raining all day; brought plastic bags and duct tape in case I needed to protect my equipment. Luckily the rain stopped right before the start of the C race. Also brought bug spray just in case, but got very few bites.
Oh how I wish I had a second camera body, so I wouldn't hafta waste time swapping lenses (80-200 f/2.8 and 18-50 f/2.8).
Generally disappointed in the shots I got at the fallen log; difficult to focus in the woods there. Happy with the shots along the sandy beach; should've taken more pics along the beach.
Tried to get a tight shot of wheels splashing thru mud but never quite got what I was after.
Dang it's tricky getting the right exposure when there's lots of water or sky, and when trying to shift quickly between woods and open sky.

Someone asked me whether these photos are cropped or as shot. Most of these (from Corcoran and Hudson) are straight out of the camera. I think I cropped 3 or 4, adjusted the brightness/contrast/noise on three, and cleaned up dust on one.

Corcoran CX - photos

2008-10-04T22:00:00.017-05:00

I went early so I could take pictures of the "A" and "B" races before my "C" race started.

Some thoughts about my photos:

Should have gotten a big-picture overview of the roller coaster. I really failed to capture the essence of it.
I know there were only six women racing in the Open category, but I still feel like I didn't get enough pictures of them. However I do like the way this photo shows some of the competition among them.
Didn't really get any decent pics of the tricky gravelly corners, especially the hay-bale corner.
Oh how I wish I had faster autofocus and a super-wide lens.
I'm really happy with my SuperRookie photo; the unique cropping was kind of a happy accident.

Corcoran CX - my 1st race

2008-10-04T17:09:00.014-05:00

This was the first cyclocross race I've ever entered. PaulaP let me borrow her 'cross bike and gave me a brief training session, and EricM gave me a few tips, then I was off to the races! I had two modest goals:

finish the race anywhere but dead last (DFL)
be able to walk the next day

A unique and fun part of the Corcoran course was the supercross/motocross section --- crazy 5-foot high bumps and a steeply-banked turn. It was a roller coaster.

I started at the back of the 61-rider field, intent on trying to stay out of trouble. But I quickly started passing people on the wide-open, flat sections. When we got to the barriers, though, my lack of experience & skills started to hurt me. My remounts and clipping in were pretty sloppy. But I never crashed, and I never caused anyone else to crash. On one lap near the start/finish line DanielC cheered me on; it's amazing how much it helps to get a little encouragement from the crowd.

There was one point where I went off course when I got distracted by EricW taking photos of me. :-) My race was only a 30-minute timed event (I'm not even sure how many laps we did), but I'm glad it wasn't any longer. I found myself being grateful for the downhills where I could coast a little and recuperate.

I finished in 42nd and lived to tell about it. So I met both of my goals! I even lapped four riders, and didn't get lapped myself. Not sure when/if I'll do another CX race, but it was an interesting and fun experience.

Photos from EricW...

Pork Chop Challenge CX

2008-09-21T22:51:00.007-05:00

Finally got back into some cycling photography today. Drove out to St. Cloud for the 7th annual Pork Chop Challenge cyclocross races. A beautiful, warm and sunny day. Watch my slideshow....

Great food at the Chili Cook Off — all you could eat for a suggested $5 donation. And free beer! (provided by McCaan's Brew Pub). It was a near-perfect day. Lots of bugs, though; I'm still scratching some of the bites....

Saw Bruce there (from skinnyski.com). Also said hey to Hollywood. And I met Frye, whose blog I've seen for months, though I had never put a face to the name.

Bike goodies part 2 - New saddle

2008-07-25T23:16:00.013-05:00

It sure seems like I wear out saddles quickly. My current one is completely coming apart — the seams are torn and the gel part is leaving sticky residue on my clothes. It's a Selle Italia Flite Titanium Genuine Gel (yellow) which I've had for two years. Time to get a new one!

Haven't seen anything on chainlove.com for a while, so I decided to order from probikekit.com (England). I've ordered items from them before and have had good experiences.

Here's what I'm getting: Selle Italia C2 Genuine Gel black Saddle 2006 model. Has magnesium rails, but it's a little heavy: 250g. Same brand as my current saddle, but a different model. (Selle Italia fits me well, so I'm sticking with them.)

Bike goodies - New shoes!

2008-07-22T19:05:00.012-05:00

A friend recently turned me on to chainlove.com, an odd website which, as wikipedia describes it, uses the QVC model of selling just a single item at a time. You never know what they're gonna sell or when, but when they sell something, it's typically at least 60% off. I've been checking the site pretty frequently, hoping to find a new saddle or pair of shoes at a ridiculously low price.

Finally, I recently saw a pair of Northwaves come up. I've been wearing my current pair of Northwaves for over five years now, so I feel pretty confident sticking with this brand.

Northwave Bike Revenge — not the most beautiful pair of shoes I've ever seen, but.... $170 road shoes with carbon soles for $55. Woo hoo! Wasn't sure what size to order; I could no longer read the markings on my old pair of Northwaves. Were they 44? 44.5? Ended up ordering the 44.5's and worrying about it for days, till the shoes showed up on my porch. They fit great!

nvgp 08 stage 6

2008-06-15T22:08:00.013-05:00

A beautiful day in Stillwater!

Saw Caroline at the race and she complimented me on several of my cyclingnews photos. Ran into my friend Jacob Gibb on the back side of the course where he had set up his strobes.

Spent too much time at the top of the climb during the women's race. Which surprises me, 'cuz I already felt like I've taken so many pictures from that same spot for the past several years. On the other hand, you get some dramatic shots there – slow speeds, huge efforts.

Moved around a lot more during the men's race. Lay on the sidewalk for a while to get dramatic shots of the cyclists flying around the corners. Shot many of these at 18mm and could have used a wider lens.

Received email from Phil Zajicek's mom. She liked the photo I got of him at the starting line of Stage 4.

Uploaded 27 photos to cyclingnews.

nvgp 08 stage 5

2008-06-14T21:59:00.008-05:00

Car-pooled with Matt down to the start in Mankato — trying to save some gas, since it's almost $4/gal(!). Left my vest and media badge in my own car, so had to acquire new ones for the day.

Rode with Stephanie (local Mankato photographer) to various points on the course. Wanted to split from Matt since we're both shooting for cyclingnews. He rode with the race's media director, along with Kurt Jambretz who shoots for VeloNews, and one of the video cameramen.

Yowza it was hot today along the finishing circuits. Glad I was able to score free water from the volunteer tent. Had lots of trouble with the alternating bright sunlight and shadows on the big climb.

Stepped in front of the finish line camera late during the women's race — d'oh! Got in trouble and had to apologize to the officials, to keep from getting fined.

Had a storm/power outage at home from 8pm till 1am. Woke up at 4am to upload 20 photos to cyclingnews.

I mis-identified one of the GrandStay riders when I uploaded the photos to cyclingnews. Red Lantern let me know about it. Was afraid cyclingnews wouldn't make the correction but they promptly fixed the caption.

nvgp 08 stages 3 and 4

2008-06-13T21:56:00.011-05:00

St.Paul: Time trial in the morning, with a new tough climb at the end, into the wind. Beautiful sunny weather today. Met fellow photographer Steve Pottinger who used to do the race's website. Also introduced myself to the TV motorbike driver, whose daughter was in the Kenda team car with me yesterday.

Today was the only vacation day I needed to take, to cover the race.

Downtown Minneapolis crit in the evening. I believe this is the first year I didn't see any crashes. There was a brief threat of rain, but it didn't materialize. Didn't get to see the end of the men's race; had to leave early to pick up my daughter from her work.

Uploaded 28 photos to cyclingnews for Stage 3, and 22 photos for Stage 4.

nvgp 08 stage 2

2008-06-12T21:47:00.008-05:00

My friend and co-worker and fellow cyclist and photographer Robbie is hosting a couple members (women's elite amateurs) of Team Kenda Tire. And his neighbor Jeff is housing some of the other riders/staff. Robbie asked the team manager Paul if I could ride in the team car during today's stage and he said yes. Cool! Should be an interesting experience; I've never gotten to do anything like that before.

Not sure what kinda pictures I'll get. Will miss the men's race. At least there's a finishing circuit around Cannon Falls.

Post-stage thoughts: When you're in the team car, most of the race happens ~200 meters in front of you. Riders rarely come by the car unless they've been dropped or need a bottle. At today's race (average 24.6 mph) only one Kenda rider dropped back for water.

I was lucky that my friend and local rider Linda yo-yo'd through the caravan for a while and I got a few good pictures of her.

Uploaded 12 photos to cyclingnews.

nvgp 08 stage 1

2008-06-11T21:31:00.018-05:00

Shooting the Nature Valley Grand Prix again this year for cyclingnews.com.

Rain! and more rain – enough to shorten the women's race and to cancel the men's race halfway through. I need protective gear for my photo equipment like Matt has. The free poncho from the volunteer tent just doesn't quite get the job done.

Rain varied from heavy downpour to steady drizzle. Didn't see any crashes in the women's race, though I know there were several. Saw numerous crashes in the men's race, especially in the northeast corner of the course.

With the dark skies (late start, heavy cloud cover) I had the opportunity to use my newest lens – 18-50 f/2.8. Still, very frustrated with the results – grainy, blurry. Out of practice – had trouble with focusing.

Should have pulled out my old, manual-focus 50mm f/1.7 prime lens. I always forget about that lens, but I need to use it more often.

I set a slow shutter speed for some panning shots, then forgot to pan. D'oh!

Uploaded 20 photos to cyclingnews.

New lens & orchestra concert

2008-03-11T10:15:00.012-05:00

bought a new lens!
sigma 18-50 f/2.8
from adorama 395.95 including shipping
delivered 6 March

camster is on the yearbook staff and was assigned to photograph the WHS spring orchestra concert. had too much homework tonight, so she sent me instead.
used the 80-200 as well. probably could have used my manual 50mm 1.7 instead of the new lens...

JV at Winterfest

2008-01-27T00:03:00.003-06:00

Congrats to the Trojets JV dance team, for winning both High Kick and Jazz/Funk at the Winterfest competition at Moundsview High School today. That's the first time Wayzata has been able to defeat Maple Grove this year! (MG beat us at both the Brainerd and Eastview invitationals).

So that's it for JV. Varsity has the upcoming Sections before they go to State. I'll take pictures at Sections, then I'll need to put together a slideshow of the season's photos...

But right now I gotta pick a few of my better photos of Camster and put together her Trojets poster that was due today.

Invitational and Showcase

2008-01-21T23:41:00.011-06:00

Spent hours and hours today managing the hundreds of photographs (over 2000!) that I've taken over the past couple of months:

Saturday was the Wayzata Invitational — the final regular-season competition for the Trojets varsity squad. Took 300 photos at that event (JV and varsity, as well as awards). Uploaded 1027 photos to FFRowe.photoreflect. Also added a few of these photos to My Portfolio.

complaint 1: the lighting is a huge challenge in the Wayzata gym — continuous brightness shifts and color shifts; it's so much easier at Moundsview, Eastview, and Armstrong, where the lighting is steady! (see my "HS gymnasium lighting" post.)

complaint 2: arrrgh, I hate the two-sided competitions. They move along faster, but they sure have distracting, cluttered backgrounds.

Sunday was the Summit Dance Shoppe Showcase. Created a slideshow of 50 photos. Took over 750 photos, and uploaded almost 450 of them to FrankRowe.photoreflect. I'm out of practice; had a lot of trouble focusing the camera. Generally need to make a conscious effort to focus on the nearest dancer. (I almost always focus manually; my camera's autofocus is way slow).

perl, excel, XML

2008-01-16T22:12:00.000-06:00

Been doing some interesting stuff at work lately. I'm dusting off my perl skills to add some features to an existing in-house utility. The software needs to generate line graphs; considered using perl's GD::Graph module, but settled instead on developing code to interface with Microsoft Excel. Running Excel from perl is poorly documented, but I've been able to find most of what I need thru google searches. (I had previously developed some C# software to interface with Excel...)

I'm also having to learn XML, XSL, and XSD. I've had a reasonable amount of experience with HTML, javascript, and CSS (stylesheets). But XML/XSL/XSD is all new to me. Good stuff to add to my resume I suppose...

Wayzata at Wayzata

2008-01-10T22:15:00.000-06:00

Home meet, dance team High Kick competition. The season's coming to a close soon; district championship meet is next week at Armstrong. Then there's an invitational (two for JV), plus sections and then state for varsity.

Got much better pictures than last year in this same gym. I stuck with 1/250 sec instead of 1/350, and I believe I did a better job setting the manual white balance. 1/350 sec seems to exacerbate the brightness shifts and color shifts especially in this gym.

Camster's been sick for the past few days but felt well enough to compete tonight... she did well. I didn't get a chance to eat supper before going to the meet, so I'm starving! Off to the kitchen to whip up some pasta and sausages...

Sidda Shivers

2008-01-01T11:45:00.001-06:00

Went to the dog park yesterday with my daughter, to take pictures of her dog Sidda. I thought I would need to keep my right index finger exposed, to be able to operate the shutter effectively. But it was way too cold, even though I was trying to pull my coat sleeve down as far as possible over my fingers. I put my glove back on and found that I had no trouble with the shutter after all. But geez it was cold; still had to stop a couple times to remove my gloves and put both hands under my jackets to thaw back out. Yes I said jackets.

Exposure (no pun intended) is always tricky in the snow. Took full advantage of the LCD screen to adjust the shutter speed/aperture properly, and then left it in manual. This burned me later when we moved under some trees and I forgot to increase the exposure... [120mm (180mm equiv), 1/500sec, f/11, ISO 800.]

Right now I'm sitting at home watching the Outback Bowl, wondering which Tennessee team will show up for this game. This team has been so unpredictable! Got my UT sweatshirt out of the closet for this occasion. Can't say that I'm proudly wearing it, since I'm hidden away in my basement. But Go Vols...

Hollywood poster

2007-12-20T22:03:00.001-06:00

I printed a bunch of 5x7s of Kristy and Hollywood for them to look through --- cyclocross pictures from Ham Lake, Rum River, and the state championships. I also printed a huge 20x30 poster-size print of this one, and took it down to Hollywood Cycles, hoping to see Jay and hoping he would buy it from me. He gave me a sweet Louis Garneau cap and a bit o' cash. Awesome! Thanks, Hollywood!

He's got a nice little shop down there in Bloomington; maybe I can buy a used cyclocross bike from him some day. I sure hope he finds a good spot to hang that poster... If you're out that way, drop on by and see if he's got the photo prominently displayed, and tell him how excellent it looks.

flock of trojets

2007-12-12T19:12:00.000-06:00

Here's one of my favorite photos from the Minnetonka meet.

Taken from the top row of the bleachers, right after the awards at the end of the evening.

A group shot like this is very hit-or-miss; you almost always get at least one person in a very unflattering pose. But this one worked.

I've always liked the Wayzata warmups — very classy — nice styling and bold colors.

[200mm (300mm equiv) lens, 1/180sec, f/3.5, ISO 3200. camera stabilized via monopod.]

Trojets update

2007-12-11T15:04:00.000-06:00

Hmmm haven't been blogging anything lately...
been busy taking pictures of Trojets (both Jazz/Funk and High Kick), and been updating my "HS gymnasium lighting" post, as I take photos at each gym. The lighting at Eastview is great — brighter than most gyms, and no cycling/flickering; I'd like to find out what type of lamps they use...

Trojets are undefeated in three conference meets (Jazz/Funk), but finished second to Maple Grove (both varsity and JV) at the Brainerd Invitational. Maple Grove looks like they're gonna be tough to beat this year!

At the Eastview Invitational: High Kick isn't Wayzata's specialty, but JV finished 3rd and varsity also finished top-5. Impressive.

Need to get photos of:

Superfan t-shirts
fans in general
coaches at the scorer's table
cam's leaps
kick: cam & amandaL

Big Snowfall for the Trojets

2007-12-01T06:59:00.001-06:00

gotta drive to Brainerd and back today (120 miles each way), and we're supposed to get the first big snowfall of the season. only 2 to 4 inches in Brainerd, but 6 to 10 inches in the Twin Cities for the drive home. I know some parents are not making the trip. it might be an adventure!

[update 9:30pm] as expected, the bleachers were a lot less full than last year. we made it home, but the Trojets didn't! they're stranded somewhere between Brainerd and St. Cloud. (actually they're in a Super 8 motel.) so it has turned into an adventure for the kids...

some Blogspot tweaks

2007-11-29T19:26:00.000-06:00

To get my previous post to look halfway decent, I needed to figure out how to create a table with a border and gridlines, and with proper spacing around the table. And I also wanted a bulleted list without tons of spacing above and below the list. This took a little investigation and some relearning of HTML and CSS ... some searches in the Blogspot Help Resources, Google searches for HTML and CSS info, etc.

I'm surprised it wasn't more straightforward.

But I'm pleased with what I came up with, and now I'm an expert on the subject :-). I just had to hand-code some <table> HTML, and add some CSS to my Template.

oh - I also set it up so all my photos have a nice teal border. yeah!

I spent several hours doing the tweaks. It's time that I probably should have spent hanging Christmas lights, or cleaning the house, or paying bills or something, instead of fiddling around with a blog that almost nobody else will ever read....

HS gymnasium lighting

2007-11-26T11:04:00.000-06:00

Last year I learned about the difficulty of doing available-light photography in high school gymnasiums (brightness shifts and color shifts):

I'm gonna gather some data this fall/winter and update this post as I learn more about each gym's lighting...

Tech details for bursts: Unless otherwise indicated, all bursts were shot at ISO 3200, manual WB, 1/350 sec, f/2.8, at a focal length of 200mm.

HS	Photo sample	Light attr	Burst
Armstrong 1	1/250 sec, f/2.8	constant	[view]
Brainerd	1/350 2.0	minor variations	50mm f/1.7
Edina	1/250 2.8	varies	[view]
Eastview	1/350 2.8	constant	[view]
Minnetonka	1/250 2.8	varies	[view]
Hopkins	1/250 2.8	minor variations	[view]
Wayzata 1	1/250 2.8	varies	[view]
Armstrong 2	1/250 2.8	constant	[view]
Wayzata 2	1/250 2.8	varies	[view]
Moundsview	1/250 2.8	minor variations	[view]

post-cx thoughts

2007-11-20T10:26:00.001-06:00

well that was fun taking pics of cyclocross. just wish I had started earlier in the season, instead of waiting till the last three MN races. I felt like I was just barely starting to get to know some of the "regulars". But I hafta admit I still can't pick out DougS -- there's too many GrandStays out there!

what I like about my state championships photos:

lots of bike carrying on the stairs
some decent pics with the water in the background
good color balance (maybe just a little too "warm"?)

things to do differently:

more variety; move around the course more. some wider shots to capture the bigger scene.
blur the backgrounds more (larger aperture via higher shutter speed, lower ISO)
some long telephoto shots of the barriers, especially the triple
find some way to illustrate the chicanes
get more pictures of the whiskey hand-up -- stevencx took a great one of TeresaM that's perfectly timed and captures the crowd reaction

get 'em published quicker, to get the crucial first round of viewers from skinnyski. (this slideshow has only achieved 372 views so far, compared to rum river which has received 942.)

and why'd I take so many pictures of that SkiHut guy?

I need to figure out a good way to publicize my pics and get folks to buy my photos! but that's my weakest area -- publicity, marketing, self-promotion. Come on, all you cyclists and cyclists' families! Buy some huge poster prints from me!

now it's time to shift my attention to HS Dance Team competition. go Wayzata Trojets! (my daughter's on the JV team :-).

MN State Championships CX

2007-11-17T19:10:00.000-06:00

Congrats to Linda Sone and Doug Swanson, 2007 Minnesota state cyclocross champions.

I had almost a thousand photos to go through, so it took me a while to choose the best ones, but I finally put my slideshow together. Hope everyone enjoys it!

Again, all the photos are available here for browsing and purchasing.

Rum River wrap-up

2007-11-14T18:46:00.000-06:00

how about this near-wipeout in the "B" race? yowza! nice recovery! (no crash) I think that's Greg G. I should hold a caption-writing contest for this pic.

thinking about the photos I took at Rum River... things I'd do differently if I had it to do over again...

I spend too much time in the woods, setting up for a shot and then just waiting for riders to ride into focus.
shoulda done some more creative shots on the bridge, like focus on the diagonal slats while cyclists zoom past.
shoulda spent more time at the run-up, too. the few photos I took there really capture the feel of a cyclocross race, I think.
it also seems like I take pictures of the same riders over and over again; some riders I tend to ignore. I wonder why I do that.

another of my favorite photos from this past week was the bike-on-shoulder. hope to see some of that at State.

Rum River CX

2007-11-11T19:23:00.000-06:00

Took about 350 photos at today's race in Milaca, MN. Wow the weather was unbelievably mild. Guy did show up, and did the "A" race. Got some good pictures of him. Also tried to get some good pics of Kristy in the "C" race, since she was the first person to give me feedback on my blog :-). Had a nice little chat with her and Hollywood.
This photo is kind of a cool shot --- I was experimenting with slow shutter speeds and operating the zoom at the same time.

here's the slideshow of some of the better pics:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/frankrowe/sets/72157603105038251/show/

as always, many more photos are here:
frankrowe.photoreflect.com

Looking forward to the state championships this weekend!

remaining CX races

2007-11-10T11:12:00.000-06:00

I'm planning to catch the last two cyclocross races of the year. (with my camera! not on my bike.)

Rum River tomorrow: weather should be nice and mild again. (good for folks who are just standing around at least, like myself).
for more dramatic photos, I hope this race is a more "typical" cyclocross race -- more barriers, double barriers, natural barriers, climbs, stairs? Ham Lake was pretty flat, with just two low barriers. hmmm, the flyer says "World Cup Style Course"... don't expect it to be very muddy, since weather's been so dry lately. hope it's overcast again; hate dealing with harsh shadows!

my plan: try various shutter speeds for more blur, less blur.
more creative angles, unique perspectives. capture the spirit of the event, the atmosphere. not so much the "news" of the race.

hope Guy shows up --- need to get a picture of at least one co-worker at the CX races. that was my original plan all along!

Ham Lake CX

2007-11-08T10:09:00.000-06:00

I went to the Ham Lake cyclocross race on Saturday (Ham Lake, MN), to take photos and, well, to watch my first 'cross race. I was hoping to see some of my co-workers riding there but didn't; wondered if they were doing the velodrome 'cross on Sunday instead. I did see Paula at the race with her kids; she was spectating and supporting some friends and teammates. I had no idea who won the races -- I was concentrating on the photography and had a nice walk through the woods. :-)

a slideshow of some of my better photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/frankrowe/sets/72157602894261589/show/

many, many more photos are here:
http://frankrowe.photoreflect.com/

I'm generally happy with how the photos came out. wide and medium shots with my kit 18-55 lens; otherwise, my pro 80-200. captured as .jpg, manual white balance set to "Cloudy", manual focus. all shots taken at 1/350 sec at ISO 1600. shutter speed was a little slow for some of the shots, especially when the cyclists were riding across the frame (left-to-right or right-to-left).